Reid My Mind
by arr ayy
Summary: The team has a new member. What happens when Reid's personal and professional lives collide? Can he deal with the emotional turmoil? Or will he fold under the pressure? Reid/OC. Somewhat case-fic.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello perfect stranger. Where have you been?**

**I'm lost with the light in your eyes.**

**I know that you're the one...**

**- I Am The Pilot**

Spencer Reid sat in the café, looking over a case file. He frequently sipped at the coffee sitting in front of him, and eventually got up to get a new one. By the end of a two hour period he had five empty cups on his table. He roughly wiped his eyes and stared out of the window he was sitting by. He extended his arm to uncover his watch and looked at the time, 7:35 A.M. He sighed and sat back. He had been up all night going over the new case, and he still felt like he'd gotten nowhere. Spencer looked around and noticed a girl walking over to him.

She was very pretty, with dark brown hair and honey colored eyes. Her tan skin somewhat glowed in the sunlight seeping through the window, and so did her (what seemed) natural dark reddish brown highlights. She was wearing a fingertip length blue pencil skirt and a red v-neck t-shirt. She smiled and stood over him. She looked over her black glasses. "Do you mind if I sit with you? Every other seat is taken, and I need to use my computer." Spencer blinked, taking in her light British accent. He shyly smiled and nodded, noticing that she was right. She kept the smile on her face as she thanked him and set her drink down on the table.

Spencer quickly took his five cups to the trash and ordered another coffee. When he sat back down he noticed that next to her laptop was a copy of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." Spencer half-smiled. "True, nervous, very, very dreadfully nervous I had been, and am."

"Excuse me?"

"Um, Poe. I love his work." The girl placed another smile on her face and then put her hand on the small book. Spencer smiled at her. She looked up at him and then went back to typing on her laptop. He studied her quietly. Every once and a while she would smile at what she'd written, and every once in a while she would wrinkle her nose at what she'd written. He noticed he had a small smile on his own face, and quickly wiped it away. He looked back to the case file and cursed himself, once again, for getting nowhere.

After a few more minutes, the girl had finished her coffee and put her laptop away. She stood up slowly. "Thank you for letting me sit here." She nodded her head again and turned around to order another coffee. She then received it and left the café.

Spencer watched her walk down the street. He smiled and started to look at the case file again. He then got a look on his face, "Ugh! I didn't ask her name..." Spencer looks at the file. "Whoa, why didn't I see this before?" He looked out the window with a wondering look on his face, like he thought she'd been the one to clear his mind for him. He quickly pulled out his phone and called his boss, Aaron Hotchner.

---

The team sat in the conference room going over Spencer's new information. After a quick meeting with the DC Police Department, the team went back to their work. Luckily their new case was in DC, so they didn't have to go anywhere. "Reid." Derek Morgan walked over to Spencer. "You okay, man?"

"What do you mean?" Spencer asked his friend.

"You seem... different today," Morgan pointed out.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just had a good morning, I guess." Spencer grinned to himself, but Morgan didn't notice.

Suddenly, someone walked into the bullpen. "Whoa... who is _that_?" Morgan questioned as he stood up to face the person. Reid's eyes grew wide as he recognized her as the girl from the café. She stood still for a second and looked around. "Can I help you, Miss?"

"Yes, I'm looking for Agent Hotchner," she told Morgan.

"Well I'm Agent Hotchner if you want me to be." Morgan winked at her. She laughed and smiled at him. "No, I'm only joking. I'll take you to his office."

Just then, JJ walked over to Spencer. "Hey, Spence, do you know the percentage of posthumous Medals of Honor awarded?"

"17.88 percent, which makes the number 620 out of the 3,467 totally given," The girl answered quickly, a wide smile on her face as she followed Morgan to Hotchner's office.

"Oh, um... thanks..." JJ looked from her back to Spencer, whose eyes were wide. "Who was that?"

"Um... the girl of my dreams? I don't know..." JJ looked at him and smirked before walking away.

Soon enough, Morgan came back over to Spencer's desk. "Dude, that girl is smoking hot. Did you see those legs? Oh my God."

"Yes, Morgan, I saw everything. Did you hear her spit out that percentage though?" Reid asked.

"Like a damn sprinkler." Reid laughed at his friend. "She seemed interested, no?"

"Um, I really wouldn't know about that sort of thing..." Spencer said, not wanting to say yes or no.

"Right. Well I'm going to go for it." Morgan got up, smiling, and walked over to his own desk. Spencer sighed and shook his head. _He_ wanted to go for it. Damn nerves.

**Okay, first story on here guys. Let me know what you think please! R&R :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Daddy-o got the swagger of a champion.**

**Too bad for you, you just can't find the right companion.**

**I guess when you have one too many, makes it hard. It could be easy...**

**- Britney Spears**

The team gathered in the conference room. There wasn't anything new in the case, but Hotch had called them for a meeting. He stood at the front, waiting for everyone to file in. The whole team finally showed up, "I've called you all to this meeting to introduce you to the newest member of our team." Natalie walked into the conference room and smiled. She stood next to Hotchner. "This is Doctor Natalie Moriarity. She's 19 years old, and she's just graduated from the Yale School of Medicine. I suppose I'll let her tell a little more about herself." Hotchner sat down.

"Hi. Like Agent Hotchner told you, I'm Natalie. Um, I grew up in London. It's been just my older brother and myself for the majority of my life. I have an IQ of 190, and I can read 21,000 words per minute." Natalie noticed that everyone slightly gasped and looked toward the guy sitting toward the back of the round table. She recognized him from the café. She smiled at him. "I can remember everything that's ever been said to me. I like taking long walks. I hate chocolate and cake, and I very much dislike driving. Thanks!"

Agent Hotchner stood back up as everyone quietly applauded her. "Alright, um. We still have nothing new on the case. Reid, how about you work with Natalie and show her the information? Dismissed."

The team dispersed, and Spencer sat still. Natalie walked towards him and sat down. "Hello again." She smiled.

"You... you recognize me?" Spencer asked in shock.

"Of course. It was just this morning." Natalie laughed.

"Right. Okay, um, so this is the case we're working on right now." Spencer pushed the open file a little more towards Natalie. He pointed to it. "Four victims in the last two weeks. All we know so far is that each murder has taken place on either a Tuesday at 7 P.M. or a Friday at 11 P.M. We only know that the murders happen in parks around Virginia, and the victims seem to have nothing in common other than their age and that they're white females."

"Hmm, I see. Okay, do you think you can get me a copy of all the information in your file? So I can look over it on my own?" Natalie asked him.

"Y-yeah, I can do that." Spencer got up and went to the copy room.

Natalie walked into the bullpen and looked around for her desk. She spotted an empty one across the room, and sat down. She sighed. "I really should have brought some stuff with me."

"It's okay. I'll decorate your desk for now." Morgan sat down on the edge of her desk.

Natalie laughed. "I can handle that. So what's your name?"

"I'm SSA Derek Morgan. But really? You can call me anything you want, lady." Morgan winked at her.

She smiled. "Let me guess, Derek... You've been a ladies man for nearly all of the latter half of your life. You can pretty much get any girl you want, and at the end of the night you leave without so much as an 'I'll call you later'. Does that sound right?" Morgan stared in shock at her, his mouth slightly open.

"W-well... yeah, but... I, ha..." Morgan stammered. He was surprised, she was nothing like he expected.

"It's alright, Derek. I can tell you want to ask me out. So I'll go out with you on the condition that you drop the macho, ladies man act and just be real with me. Oh, and you call me after." Natalie smirked.

"Wh-um. Yeah, okay. Sounds good. I'll, uh... just leave your address on my desk and I'll pick you up tonight, since we probably won't get anywhere with this case. 8 sound good?" Morgan asked, still in a small amount shock.

"Sounds good." Morgan walked away, and Spencer walked up with two files. He put one down on Natalie's desk, weakly smiled, and walked away.

Natalie stared after him. She wondered why he spent most of his time alone. "Studying the young doctor, are we?" Natalie looked up at a dark haired woman.

"I would say I'm the young doctor around here, but yes." The girls both let out small laughs. Natalie finishes, "He's interesting."

"He really is. You know, though, I find you really interesting." Natalie looked at her, confused. "What I mean is, you and Reid are alike, but so different. You're both geniuses, doctors. But he's so shy and he keeps to himself. You seem to be really outgoing and speak your mind, and I'm guessing you've had a lot of male attention, whereas Reid... not so much attention from the ladies."

Natalie laughs. "Funny. I suppose that is kind of interesting... I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"Emily Prentiss. Most people just call me Prentiss, though." Prentiss sticks her hand out.

Natalie just looks at it. "I'm sorry... I don't..."

Prentiss nods. "You're more like Reid than I thought." She laughs and starts to leave.

"Um, thank you, I guess... Emily." Natalie smiles at her coworker who smiles back at her.


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm so sick of watching all the minutes pass as I go nowhere.**

**This is my reaction to everything I fear.**

**Cause I've been going crazy...**

**- All Time Low**

By the time it was 4:30, everyone was itching to get out of work. 5 o' clock couldn't come soon enough. Everyone had been looking over the case files all day long, and still nothing. Although, many of them kept going over to talk to Natalie, so she hadn't gotten a chance to really look over the file. Spencer watched all day as his teammates would one by one go and talk to her. He noticed how Natalie and Emily seemed to be getting really well acquainted. He noticed how JJ kept shooting her strange looks. He noticed how Hotchner acted differently around her, happier. He noticed how Morgan continued to flirt with her, and how Natalie flirted back, but in a more sarcastic way. Spencer shook his head and tried to focus on the case.

When everyone finally retreated to their desks, Natalie finally got a chance to look over the file. She opened it and began to look through all of the information. Something didn't seem right to her about one of the witnesses. Then something clicked. She jumped up and quickly walked into Garcia's office. She then emerged about three minutes later and headed into Hotch's office.

"Agent Hotchner!" Natalie exclaimed.

"Natalie, please call me Hotchner or Hotch," he said calmly. He noticed she was flustered. "What's wrong?"

"Isn't tomorrow Friday?" Hotch's eyes grew wider as he nodded. "I think I've just figured out where the Unsub is going to strike next..."

The next day the team piled into two of their black SUV's at 9 P.M. and drove to Holliday Lake State Park. They each pulled out their guns as they slowly walked through he trees. After about ten minutes, they stopped. "Alright. I think we should split up. Natalie, Reid, you guys head up to the main cabin. JJ and Prentiss, you guys hit the east woods. Rossi, Morgan, and I will keep searching here." Everyone nodded and went their separate ways.

Spencer and Natalie walked up to the main cabin quietly. "So, can I ask you something?" Spencer asked quietly.

"Of course," Natalie responded.

"How did you find out where the Unsub would be this time?" Reid asked.

"Well, I was looking over the case file... it took me a while to figure it out, but then when I saw the interview with that woman, Elizabeth Greggor, I realized that something wasn't right. I read over it three times before I realized that nobody really suspected her of anything, but she looked really familiar. So I talked to Penelope and got her to dig a little deeper and found out that Miss Elizabeth Greggor had a name change a few years ago. She used to be Lilly Tyler." Natalie looked at Reid, who remembered her name.

"The Richmond Wrangler. The serial killer from 1997 who used a rope to strangle her victims and then she'd leave them in random parks around Richmond with the word "Slut" carved into their stomach. All her victims were females, and they were all the same age as Lilly. She was never caught... how did I not catch that?" Reid mentally kicked himself. "And you narrowed down what parks were left around DC, and figured out that she'd be here tonight."

"Exactly." Natalie smiled. She noticed Reid was frowning as he looked down. His mouth was moving, and she read his lips.

"How could I have not caught that? What's wrong with me? I went over this case for hours and hours. I stayed up all night last night..." Reid was saying to himself.

"Spencer, don't kick yourself over this. It was one thing I caught that you didn't. It's not a big deal," Natalie assured him.

"Please, just... don't talk to me right now." Reid looked up as they entered the cabin.

Natalie scoffed, but paid attention to what she was doing. The two had just stepped inside the cabin when they heard a noise upstairs. They both pulled their guns out and walked slowly up the stairs. Everything was dark, but Spencer noticed one room that had light seeping through the space under the door. He tapped Natalie with his elbow and they stood outside the door. Spencer kicked it in, and they both rushed in. "FBI, put your weapon down!" Spencer said.

They saw Elizabeth standing in front of a tied up woman. She'd been strangled already, but Elizabeth had tied her up to the wall to carve the message into her stomach. "Well, well, well. Who do we have here...?" Elizabeth turned to completely face the two. "Oh, you are pretty..." She pointed at Natalie with her knife and started to slowly walk towards her.

"Lilly, put the knife down," Natalie ordered.

Elizabeth laughed. "Lilly. No one's called me that in years..." She lunged towards Natalie, who quickly jumped out of the way, but managed to get her arm sliced. Elizabeth regained herself and lunged at her again, but this time Spencer fired his gun and hit her in the chest.

Natalie looked down at Elizabeth and up to Spencer. The two stared at each other for a moment. "Thank you..." Natalie said before the rest of the team ran into the room.


	4. Chapter 4

**Well, you know I just can't wait,**

**To pick you up on our very first date.**

**Is it cool if I hold your hand?**

**- Blink 182**

Natalie sat at her desk in the bullpen. The team had just gotten back from the park, and some of them were leaving. Besides her, it was just Morgan, Hotchner, and Reid. Hotchner came up to her desk. "Natalie, I just want to thank you for solving the case. We were getting nowhere." Natalie looked behind Hotchner to see Spencer shoot his head up, then quickly frown and look back down.

"Um, no problem, Aaron. That's why I'm here, to help." Hotchner smiled and left. Natalie looked over at Spencer again, but he wasn't there. Then she noticed the door to the bullpen closing. She sighed and grabbed her bag. As she stood up, Morgan came over to her. "Hey, Derek."

"Hey, lady. So, uh, we didn't get to have our date last night." Morgan smiled.

"Yeah, I know, ha. I was wrapped up in the case." Natalie rubbed her arm lightly.

"How's the arm?" Morgan asked.

"It's alright. Just a scrape." Natalie smiled

"Good, good," Morgan commented.

"Yeah, so um, why don't we make that date for tomorrow night instead?" Natalie smiled.

"That sounds great. I got your address earlier. I'll pick you up around 7, alright?" Morgan questioned.

"Definitely." Morgan walked out, leaving Natalie alone in the bullpen. She sighed and left.

As Natalie walked down the street, she couldn't help but let her mind wander back to Doctor Reid. Why was he acting so rudely towards her? It wasn't her fault that she caught what he didn't. He seemed nice enough at the café, so why was he acting so differently now?

---

The next night Natalie sat in front of her mirror. She'd already gotten dressed in a little black dress that hugged her in just the right way, and didn't make her look like a slut. She was now on her makeup. She quickly put on eyeliner and mascara, and then smiled. She was already beautiful; she didn't need much help. There was a knock at her door.

"Derek." She smiled as she opened the door.

Morgan looked her up and down. "Natalie, you look amazing."

"Why thank you, sir. Shall we?" Natalie walked past him and led him down the stairs of her apartment building.

They got in the car, and Morgan drove them to the Olive Garden. They got out and were seated immediately. "This is the nicest Olive Garden I've ever been to," Morgan admitted. Both of them laughed.

"It really is," Natalie agreed. "So, Derek, tell me about yourself."

"What do you want to know, princess?" Morgan grinned.

"Okay, here's another rule. Enough with the pet names, okay? I'm not a girl that's into that type of thing. Besides, statistics show that most men use pet names when they can't remember a girl's real name or don't want to get hers mixed up with someone else's," Natalie explained.

"You are truly Reid's mind match. Statistics on a date. Alright fine, _Natalie_. No more nicknames," Morgan said.

"Thank you." Natalie's mind flashed back to Spencer once again. She shook her head lightly to shake the thoughts of him away. Morgan didn't notice. "Tell me whatever you want."

Morgan began to explain a Spark Notes version of his life story to Natalie. They talked and laughed and enjoyed their dinner. By the time they were finished with dessert, the two knew almost everything about each other.

After they left Olive Garden, Morgan took her home. They walked slowly up to the apartment, Morgan holding her hand the whole time, and when they reached the door they simply stood there. "Well, I had a great time." Natalie smiled.

"Me too. You're a lot of fun, Natalie." Morgan grinned and Natalie laughed.

"I guess." The two stood awkwardly looking around. "Um, so I'm not really a spend the night on the first night kind of girl... so, um, I'll see you at work?" Natalie asked.

Morgan hesitated before he answered. "Yeah. I'll see you..."

Natalie kissed his cheek, smiled and stuck the key into the lock on her door. She opened it and walked inside. With one last smile at Morgan, she closed the door. Morgan sighed and smiled. He walked back down the stairs and got in his car to head home, still smiling the entire time.


	5. Chapter 5

**This has been said so many times.**

**I'm not sure if it matters.**

**But we never stood a chance...**

**- Fall Out Boy**

On Monday morning Spencer walked into the office to find a big stack of paperwork on his desk. He sighed as he put his messenger bag down and headed to the Break area. He began to pour himself a cup of coffee as Morgan entered.

"Hey, man. How was the weekend?" Morgan asked him.

"Same old same. Watched some Star Trek, read some Poe and some Tolstoy. Uneventful." Spencer started to add the massive amounts of sugar to his coffee.

"Sounds fun... for you. I had a hot date!" Morgan laughed.

"Morgan, when do you ever _not_ have a hot date?" Spencer joked.

"True, true, but this time it was with Natalie." Morgan looked at his coworker and raised his eyebrows. Spencer stopped pouring his sugar for a second, shook his head, and then added two more packets. Morgan slightly frowned. "What's up, man? I don't even get a congrats or anything?"

"Congrats." Spencer tipped his coffee to Morgan, and then began sipping at it.

Morgan stared at his friend. "Something wrong with me going on a date with her?"

"Not at all. I'm just not particularly fond of her," Spencer told him as he left the room. He headed into Garcia's "lair" as she liked to call it and sat down.

"Hello, Doctor Reid. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" Garcia smiled.

"Garcia... my friend. I just wanted to get out of the bullpen for a little." Spencer sighed.

"Why is that, pretty boy?" Garcia questioned.

"I'm sick of everybody drooling over Natalie. I mean, do you see the way Hotchner and Morgan are around her? And Prentiss is just her best friend now or something..." Spencer trailed off.

"It sounds to me like you _wish_ you could be close to her like that." Garcia raised one eyebrow.

"Please! Garcia, I can't stand the girl."

"Why?"

"I don't know. She's just so smug and she says whatever she wants, whenever she wants," Spencer explains.

"Honey, it sounds to me like you're jealous," Garcia told him.

"Jealous? Me? Of what?" Spencer asked, surprised and slightly more nervous.

"You're jealous of Natalie because she's a little smarter than you. So it's three IQ points and a thousand words, big deal, Reid."

"I am _not_ jealous of Natalie. That's-That's like saying I'm jealous of Morgan!" Spencer crosses his arms. Garcia looks at him like he just admitted it himself. "Okay, that's not what I meant, and you know it."

"Reid, all I'm saying is that you barely know the girl. Give her a real chance before you go any further with this 'dislike'." Garcia held up air quotes. Reid sighed and nodded. "Anyway, do you know how many deaths there are in elevators each year? Kevin's all anti-elevator lately for some reason."

Natalie pokes her head in without them seeing her, "Six." The two slightly jumped and looked at her until she quickly walked away.

"Did I mention I hate that too? I hate how she just pops her head in like that sometimes," Spencer admitted.

"I think it's cute, she always has the most adorable expressions on her face. Too cute," Garcia squealed.

Spencer laughed and shook his head. He left the room and sat down at his desk. He looked over to watch Natalie. She was sitting at her desk, working. He watched as she flew threw her paperwork like it was nothing. He noticed her make the same smiles that she made in the café that morning, and he noticed that she crinkled her nose in the same way as well.

Natalie could feel eyes on her, so she looked up and locked eyes with Spencer. Spencer quickly looked away. He found himself blushing, and wondered how to make it stop. He looked up again, and she had gone back to her work. Spencer thought about that morning at the café and wished he'd known how smart she was then. He also wished that she hadn't come to work with him, and that he would have met her again somewhere else. He knew that if it had been that way, maybe he could have gotten up the nerve to ask her out. But now he was, even though he didn't want to admit it, jealous of Natalie.

"Goodnight, Spencer..." Natalie stood by his desk with a small smile on her face.

Spencer looked up at her, and then (not thinking of words quick enough) stuck his hand up as a wave. Natalie slightly frowned and then left. Spencer knew he'd just disappointed her.


	6. Chapter 6

**I don't care if Monday's blue.**

**Tuesday's great, and Wednesday, too.**

**Thursday, I don't care about you...**

**- The Cure**

The next morning, the team got called in for a new case. They all sat around the round table as Hotchner explained the case. "Okay, so we've got someone going around murdering happily married couples in the same neighborhood in Charleston, South Carolina. Each of the couples are made up of a man and a woman, and they don't have any kids or pets. The men leave for work at a law firm at 9 in the morning and come home to their wives at 6 at night. While they work the wives stay home. Each couple is found with their throats slit. The Charleston police have done a little investigating and have found that the couples were most likely murdered in different rooms, and then posed like this..."

Hotchner put up three pictures of the three murders. In each picture the couple, with their throats slit, are sitting on their couch. The man has his arm around the woman's waist, and the woman has her hand on the man's knee. "So all of the men work in the same law firm?" Prentiss asks.

"Correct, and they all come from Ivy League schools. So do the wives," Hotchner added.

"So they all know each other... Is it possible that our Unsub is one of their friends? I mean isn't that the only way he could know all of this information about the men?" JJ asked.

"Unless he's been stalking them," Morgan put in.

"I think our best chance to catch this guy is to put a couple of you in there. Maybe there's a chance he'll go after you guys, and we can keep surveillance on you and catch him." Hotchner looked around. The team looked around as well. The only single people in the room that seemed like they could pull it off were Morgan, Natalie, Prentiss, and Reid. "Reid, Natalie, congratulations. You've just been married. Let's get to the airport, people."

Natalie looked over at Reid, who was looking anywhere but towards her. She sighed and gathered her things. Reid was the last one in the room. He picked up his messenger bag and sighed as he, too, finally left.

---

The plane ride was uneventful, and when the team got to Charleston, Hotchner quickly sent Spencer and Natalie on their way. Hotchner and a Charleston police officer escorted them to a house in the neighborhood where the murders had occurred. They got out of the car in front of a big white house. Hotchner got out to see them off. "Besides you two, there are two more couples with husbands that work at the law firm. Remember guys, he goes for the happy couples. Be happy. Or at least pretend to be." Hotchner then left.

The two walked into the house, and put their bags down. They stood there, looking around the house. Natalie walked forward to go into the kitchen and dining room. She looked out of the window above the sink. "There's a pool, ha." Spencer let out a small laugh and walked upstairs. He saw the bathroom and a guest room, and then he came to the master bedroom. It was decorated just how he would have decorated it. Natalie suddenly appeared next to him. "Wow..." She ran forward and jumped on the bed, twisting in the air to land on her back. After a few seconds she propped herself up on her elbows. "Come and sit with me."

She sat up and crossed her legs Indian-style. Spencer sat next to her in the same position. "Here I am..." He hadn't made eye contact with Natalie the whole time they'd been there. She looked over at him.

"Look... I know you don't like me. But we have to do this. It's our job. At least pretend you want to be here, okay?" Natalie reasoned.

Spencer's head slowly moved up, and he finally made eye contact with her. "I never said I didn't like you."

"Spencer I'm not an idiot. Obviously. I can tell. You almost never look me in the eye, you frown when anyone mentions me... you told Morgan you're 'not particularly fond of me'." Natalie put her hands into her lap.

"Oh, he told you that? Huh... don't you think he'll be... upset that we're doing this? I mean aren't you guys like, dating or something?" Spencer questioned.

"We went on one date. Dinner, and he took me home, and that's it. He didn't even stay the night. We didn't even kiss!" Natalie told him.

"Oh. Well, still. I didn't mean that I didn't like you. I'm just..." Spencer mumbled the last word.

"What?" He mumbled the word again. "Excuse me?"

"Jealous! I'm freaking jealous of you! Okay? Geez." Spencer ran his fingers through his hair, and when he put them in his lap, Natalie noticed that they were slightly shaking.

"Why are you jealous of me?" Natalie asked, slightly surprised.

"Cause you're smarter than me, and you're way more social than I am. People just seem to like you right away, and that's never really happened to me."

"Spencer... yes I'm technically smarter than you, but that doesn't mean you're just not smart. You're still an asset to the team; you're better at different things than me. And as for the social stuff... it's mostly because of my looks." Spencer looked at her, and she had a small smile on her face. He felt his cheeks grow warm again, and he looked away.


	7. Chapter 7

**Our lives are made in these small hours,**

**These little wonders, these twists and turns of fate.**

**Time falls away, but these small hours still remain...**

**- Rob Thomas**

One week had gone by, and there was no sign of the killer. He hadn't made any moves since Spencer and Natalie had been placed in the neighborhood, and neither had Spencer or Natalie. They'd gotten over the initial awkwardness, and they'd moved past the thought of Spencer being jealous of Natalie. Each of their nights were spent sitting on the couch reading to each other, or watching TV.

Every day Spencer would go to work while Natalie cleaned around the house and cooked dinner for them. Her dinners usually consisted of frozen dinners heated up and put on plates, but one day, Natalie decided to make something special for Spencer. So she spent the latter part of the day making her famous lasagna and garlic bread for dinner, and crème brulee for dessert. She set the table with candles and flowers, and set plates up for them right next to each other.

Spencer walked in the door a few minutes after six. He cleared his throat, "Ahem. Um, h-honey... I'm home." Spencer felt awkward calling her honey.

Natalie walked into the hallway. "Hi... baby." Natalie felt just as awkward. "I have a surprise for you." She covered his eyes and led him into the dining room. "Ta-da!" She took her hands away, and he stared at the table in awe.

"Natalie... wow. This is amazing, and it smells great." Spencer smiled at her. "Why did you do this?"

"I don't know. I was bored, and I just felt like doing something nice for my... husband." Natalie paused before she quickly said the last word. She waved an arm to ask Spencer to sit down, and she brought the food from the counter to the table. They ate and talked and laughed and by the time they'd finished dinner, both of them were even more comfortable with each other than they were before. "One more thing..." Natalie got up and took out the crème brulee.

"Natalie, this is too much. I can't believe you'd even do this for me." Spencer smiled widely at her.

"Don't even worry about it, Spencer. You deserve it." Natalie and Spencer smiled at one another for a few seconds before Natalie put some crème brulee on both of their plates. They ate dessert and then went upstairs to head to bed.

Natalie sat under the covers, reading the last bit of A Farewell To Arms. She was wearing short shorts and a loose white tank top. Spencer walked out in light blue silk pajamas, he sat in bed and cleared his throat. "Um, I have a surprise for you too, Natalie." He took a piece of paper out of the messenger bag by his feet and handed it to her.

"Aw, Spencer... is this me?" Natalie looked at the piece of paper, which had a drawing of a girl on it. She was sitting at a desk, writing, and she had her nose crunched up.

"Ha, yeah... It's you at work back in Quantico. I've been working on it all week on my breaks at work. Do you like it?" Spencer asked.

"Of course I do, Spencer. It's amazing. I didn't know you could draw." Natalie placed in on her bedside table carefully.

"There are a lot of things I can do that most people don't know about," Spencer told her, a small hint of flirtatiousness in his voice.

Natalie looked at him. For the first time she didn't see Doctor Spencer Reid, the genius, she saw Spencer Reid. That's it. She saw the real him when she looked into his eyes. And on his side, when Spencer looked into her eyes, he saw what he'd seen the first day he met her. At that moment, he knew that he had real feelings for her, and he didn't want to hide them anymore. The only problem was that he didn't exactly know how to tell her. He sighed and broke eye contact with her to turn off the light. He squirmed down under the sheets, and Natalie did the same.

---

The next morning, Natalie woke up to find that she was by herself. There was a note on the pillow: _Natalie. I didn't want to wake you. You looked so peaceful sleeping. I'm at work, I'll see you when I get home. Spencer._

Natalie smiled and looked at the clock on her bedside table. 10:54. She got up and got ready, dressing up nice. She decided to surprise Spencer with a homemade lunch at work. After getting ready and making the commute to the law firm, she checked the time again. 12:03. Perfect timing. She walked into the office and quietly over to Spencer's desk. He was too busy working to notice her come up behind him. "Hey, Spencer."

Spencer jumped slightly and smiled widely. "Natalie!"

"I thought I'd surprise you. I brought you lunch." Natalie handed him the Tupperware.

"You're amazing." Spencer beamed.

"Reid, that's your wife? Points, man. Through the roof." A man grinned as he walked past the two. Spencer blushed. He looked around and noticed all of his coworkers gawking at Natalie. She smiled at no one in particular.

"Well my coworkers seem to like you." Spencer grinned.

"Aw. Well don't worry. I only have eyes for you, Spencer." He looked at Natalie, wondering if that was true or if she was just playing her role.


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N: So in honor of another new episode, I'm putting this chapter up! I think this chapter's really cute. Kinda fluffy, maybe even unrealistic. Maybe. Eh._

**But the planets all aligned when you looked into my eyes.**

**And just like that, the chemicals react.**

**The chemicals react.**

**- Aly & AJ**

The next morning Spencer and Natalie found out that the killer had struck again. He'd murdered a husband and wife next door to them. Hotchner and Rossi came to their "home" to talk to them. "Jason and Julie Fletcher." Hotchner read their names off the report.

Spencer shook his head. "He sat in the desk across from me."

"You guys didn't see anything? It happened around 8 last night," Rossi asked them.

"No. We, um... we decided to go out to dinner last night. Nothing seemed suspicious when we came home," Natalie told them.

"Look, we've sent Prentiss by here at different times during the last week, and she reported that it doesn't seem like you guys are acting like the other couples in the neighborhood," Hotchner said.

"What do you mean?" Natalie asked.

"You aren't, seemingly, as happy as they are. You need to step it up. Make the unsub come to you so we can catch him because even with this new murder, we have nothing," Rossi explained.

Spencer shifted uneasily, and Natalie sighed. "We'll work on it, right Spencer?"

"R-right." Hotchner nodded to them and he and Rossi left.

Natalie and Spencer went back into the house and sat on the couch. Natalie sat on the end, and Spencer sat on the other end. Natalie looked at him as he turned on the TV. "Spencer."

"Yes?"

"Didn't you hear what Hotch and Rossi just said?" Spencer just stared at her. He knew what she was talking about, but he was too shy to make any moves on his own. Natalie sighed, got up and put in The Notebook, and sat back down. This time she sat close to Spencer, and she linked their arms. She could feel Spencer's body slightly shaking. He looked at her, and she could tell he was a little bit nervous. She smiled. "Spencer... why are you so nervous?"

"I-I don't know what you're t-talking about." Spencer looked away from her. Natalie chuckled and used her hand to make him look at her. They looked into each others eyes for about two minutes straight before she finally said something.

"Do you... like me?" Natalie grinned.

"What!?" Spencer asked, caught off guard.

"Really. Not just because you have to pretend to like me for this case. Do you actually like me? Have real feelings for me?" Natalie questioned him, still holding his face.

"I... Well... I don't know... Maybe." He looked deep into her eyes. "Yes," he whispered.

Natalie let go of his face. "Why did you treat me the way you did when I first started working with you, then?"

"Look, that morning at the café... I thought you were the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen, ever. When you left, I wished I'd see you again. Then you came into my job... my dream job, and you showed me up on your first case, on your first day... I just got jealous. I repressed my feelings for you and let my jealousy seethe through. Then we got paired up on this assignment... I knew I couldn't lie to myself anymore. And the other night... you made that dinner and dessert for me, and I gave you my drawing... when I looked into your eyes before we went to bed, I just knew. I knew I had to tell you that I like you, but I didn't know how. I'm shy! I'm not good with girls! I've only ever kissed a girl, and it's only been once! It's just so hard for me..." Spencer's eyes grew wide. "And I can't believe I just basically told you that I'm a virgin. Oh, God..." He looked away from her, and let out a small laugh. He ran his fingers through his hair.

"Spencer... it's not a big deal. You just have to get over your fears. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. And look, I like you too, Spencer. Just... not in that way." Spencer's head hung down in defeat. "But, look... we have to be convincing for this guy. So can you just pretend we never had this conversation for now and... act like my husband?"

Spencer looked at her. Her eyes flickered in the low light. He nodded, and she cupped his face. She then softly kissed him on the lips. When she pulled back, he looked into her eyes again. It seemed like they were a little glossy, but he figured it was just the light. He leaned in for another kiss, and she accepted. This time it was a little deeper, though. He felt his heart start beating faster. They began to kiss even deeper, and he leaned forward, pinning her to the couch. He felt her tongue lick his bottom lip, and he opened his mouth.

As they lied on the couch, making out, a lot of thoughts were running through Spencer's mind. _"She's just acting, Spencer. Don't let this affect you. She seemed like she liked me, though... no, it was all an act for this stupid case. I'm a genius. Why was I not smart enough to realize that? I can't let her rejection throw me off. I need to keep pretending I'm alright. I am..."_

Thoughts were running through Natalie's mind as well. _"Why did I tell him I don't like him in that way? I guess I don't. But maybe I do... we're practically perfect for each other. Oh, well. After this case things'll probably just go back to the way they were, especially now that I've rejected him..."_


	9. Chapter 9

**Hours pass, and she still counts the minutes that I am not there.**

**I swear I didn't mean for it to feel like this,**

**Like every inch of me is bruised...**

**- Jack's Mannequin**

The next morning, Spencer woke up to find himself really happy for once. He supposed it was because he'd finally found out what kissing Natalie would be like, and it was amazing. Even though she rejected him, he accepted it and moved on. After all, he'd been without a girl in his life forever, he could handle it.

Natalie also woke up feeling good. She made breakfast for them, and then when 8:45 rolled around, Spencer got up from the table. Natalie walked him onto the front porch. They beamed at each other. "I'll see you when I get home baby." Spencer kissed Natalie deeply on her soft lips. She smiled.

"Of course. I'm just making fish sticks tonight, though. Maybe some corn or something. So yeah..." They both laughed as she fixed his tie.

"Whatever you make will be perfect, Honey. See you soon!" He turned around.

"Spencer!" Natalie ran up and kissed him hard on the mouth one last time before she waved him off, both with big smiles on their faces.

Spencer's workday was uneventful. The men spent the day talking about the Fletchers and wondering who would be next. He ate his lunch by himself as usual, and then around 4:15, he got a phone call from Hotch. "Reid, get to the house. Now." Spencer slammed the phone down and quickly gathered his things. He ran out of the firm without saying a word to anyone.

When he got to the house, he found the team out front, including a blood soaked and bandaged Natalie. He rushed over to her. "Natalie! Oh, my God. Are you alright? What happened?" he asked frantically.

Natalie put her hand up. "Spencer calm down, I'm fine. I went to the store earlier and when I came back the unsub was waiting for me. He came after me and got a couple of good slices on me," Natalie explained, waving a bandaged hand at her leg. "He chased me upstairs and pinned me down on the bed to try and get a good shot at me. I was finally able to push him off, so I had enough time to get my gun out of the bedside table. I shot him. He's dead. It's over." Natalie wiped her tearing eyes, and Spencer gave her a hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay." Natalie weakly smiled at him.

"Thanks, Spencer." JJ and Prentiss took Natalie to a car, and Morgan came up to Spencer.

"You know that if she didn't kill him, he would have gotten her. And you when you got home," he told Spencer.

"Yeah... he probably would have," Spencer admitted.

"You're lucky she's a fighter." They looked as the SUV containing the women drove off. "Gotta love a fighter." Morgan smiled and put an arm around Spencer's shoulder to take him to the other SUV.

Spencer spent the whole ride to the airport and plane ride home thinking about Natalie. He was happy she was alright, but at the same time he couldn't help but feel guilty that he wasn't there to protect her. He didn't even notice when Natalie came and sat down next to him.

"Spencer..." His head shot towards her.

"Hey... how are you feeling?" Spencer asked her, softly.

"Fine. I just wanted to come over and talk to you. You seem a little upset," Natalie said.

"I'm just, uh... I can't help but feel a little guilty. You know, that I wasn't there to protect you when you needed it," Spencer admitted.

"Spencer I can take care of myself. I've been doing it almost all of my life. You really shouldn't feel guilty. It wasn't your fault." Her words made him feel a little better, so he gave her a small smile.

"I guess that means we passed the happy couple test, huh?" Spencer tried to make a joke.

It seemed to work since Natalie giggled. "I guess so." They sat in silence for a second. "And Spencer... I'm sorry about... turning you down. I hope I didn't hurt you or anything. I just... I'm not really a relationship kind of girl. It's hard for me to explain..."

"Natalie, it's fine. I'll be okay. It's not like I haven't gone through this before. I mean I haven't... but at least I actually tried for once. That's something." Natalie gave him a small smile. "Trust me... I'm fine."

"Alright. Good, I'm glad." She smiled normally and got up to sit next to Morgan.

"Hey, gorgeous!" Morgan beamed.

Spencer watched as Morgan smiled widely and put his arm around Natalie. She rested her head on his shoulder and quickly fell asleep. Morgan kissed her forehead and gently rubbed her arm.

Oh, how he still wished that could be him.


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N: Wowwww, just realized how many times I used Spencer's name in the last chapter, haha. I can be so repetitive sometimes. Oh, and I know some of you may think Natalie's a teeny bit indecisive, since she's all touchy feely with Morgan and stuff, but in the next chapter you somewhat see why she is the way she is! Also, just to put this out there, I would love for you to follow me on twitter and/or tumblr. I'm basically addicted, haha. /arr_ayy & .com :)  
_

**If you and I are a story that never gets told,**

**If what you are is a daydream I'll never get to hold,**

**At least you'll know you're beautiful. Every little piece, love...**

**- Taylor Swift**

Morgan walked over to Natalie and set down a coffee and some aspirin on her desk. "Aw, thanks Derek." Natalie sipped her coffee then dropped both of the aspirin in her mouth.

"No problem. So... I must say I'm a little jealous that Reid got to kiss you before I did," Morgan admitted, smiling.

Spencer heard this as he walked to his desk, and he found himself smirking. "Oh, Derek. Don't worry, you'll get your chance. Well... maybe. If you impress me enough."

"Maybe I need to get some pointers, then, huh?" Morgan asked, sticking his thumb back to point to Spencer. Natalie giggled. "Or how about we just go on another date. Tonight?"

"Sure, sounds good." Natalie smiled and went back to looking through her paperwork. She grabbed a pen and tried to work, but she found herself grunting in pain from the cut on her right hand.

Spencer noticed this, and since he'd already finished his paperwork, he walked over to her desk. "Hey... need some help?"

Natalie looked at Spencer and sighed. "Help would be great." Spencer sat down and began working. "You know these bandages do nothing for me. They clash with my outfit." Natalie giggled, trying to lighten the mood.

As he quickly went through her stack, he smiled. "Please. You always look beautiful." He sees Natalie smile out of the corner of his eye. "So, do you mind if I try to guess what part of London you're from?" Spencer asked as he continued working.

Natalie smiled. "Go ahead."

"Well, you can tell a lot from an accent. So let's see... Hmm. At the end of the high street, Harris Street... near the Queen's End?" Spencer guessed.

Natalie scoffed. "Close, but I didn't grow up on that side. That's the dodgy end. I grew up opposite the Queen's End." She flashed him a smile when he quickly looked up at her. "But I'm impressed."

"Thank you."

"Where are you from?" Natalie questioned.

"I grew up in Las Vegas," Spencer told her.

"Oh, that must have been fun!" Natalie gushed.

"Not when you're a 12 year old genius in a Las Vegas public high school," Spencer let out a small laugh.

"Oh. I guess we English aren't as cruel. I was hardly ever picked on," Natalie remembered.

"I think it's partially because of your looks, no?" Spencer smiled.

"Oh ha, ha." Natalie lightly hit his arm with her good hand.

"Hey!" Spencer playfully hit her back, accidentally coming too close to the cut on her leg. She flinched and sucked in a breath. "Oh my God! I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay... " Natalie breathed. She softly rubbed the area on her leg and smiled.

---

Morgan and Natalie decided to go on a walk in the park. They'd been out for almost two hours. Natalie couldn't help but be attracted to Derek Morgan. He was gorgeous, funny, and he had an amazing personality.

They were climbing the stairs to Natalie's apartment. "I still can't believe that your favorite Tim Burton film is The Nightmare Before Christmas. I've loved that movie since I was little!" Morgan said, excited.

"Me? You don't exactly seem the type to even know who Tim Burton is, let alone love his work," Natalie pointed out.

"Ouch, Natalie. You hurt my heart!" Morgan pouted at her.

"Are you trying to pout just to show of your lips? You think I'll kiss you?" Natalie questioned.

"You know me so well." Morgan smiled widely at her. They had just reached her front door. "I guess this is goodbye..." he pouted again, and Natalie couldn't help but laugh.

"Oookay..." She leaned forward and kissed him. The kiss became deeper and she wrapped her arms around his neck. Morgan put one hand on her back and the other behind her head.

Morgan pulled back for a second and his eyes flashed toward the door, silently asking if they could move this inside. Natalie smiled and opened the door. They walked inside, and she closed it. As Morgan wrapped his arms around her once more, she laughed. He'd touched her ticklish spot. As they began kissing again she couldn't help but let her mind wander back to the kiss she'd shared with Spencer. It was actually better than Morgan's.

_A/N: And I just have to post this. It's part of a message I received from a friend of mine (which btw, you should read her Spence story cause it's great- Changer of Stories) "Have you considered enrolling Reid in Ladies Lessons? Because he kind of sucks with Juliet and Natalie. :) I'm sure Derek could teach him a thing or two. ;)" haha, things get better, promise!  
_


	11. Chapter 11

**I don't feel the way I've ever felt, I know.  
I'm gonna smile and not get worried.  
I try but it shows...**

**- Jimmy Eat World**

Four months had gone by since Natalie had joined the team, and things were running smoothly. JJ stopped giving her dirty looks, she'd helped bring Hotchner out of his shell, and her and Morgan had been seeing each other the whole time. They managed to keep it pretty quiet around the office. The only one who knew was Spencer, seeing as how he was Morgan's best friend, and he'd become Natalie's, too. Spencer always felt jealous since still had feelings for Natalie, but he'd gotten really good at hiding them from everyone.

He was also the only one who knew how Morgan had started to treat Natalie. He'd flake on dates, and he wouldn't call her when he'd say he would. Natalie was strong, so she just brushed it off. She grew up knowing that she didn't need a man to make her happy, but Spencer didn't like it. Natalie also suspected Morgan was cheating on her, but she never said anything. And since they weren't in a real relationship, she didn't plan on it.

At work, they'd gone out on a lot of cases over the four months, and although it was closing in on Christmas, (it was December 23rd) that was no exception. Hotchner called everyone into the conference room. "Alright, someone in DC is kidnapping tourists. We've found two already in random hotel rooms in the area. They've been shot once in the middle of the forehead, and then left. TOD for each of them is 7 A.M. The most recent kidnapped tourist is this man..." Hotchner puts a picture of a younger, good-looking guy. Natalie gasped when she saw it, and everyone looked at her. "Natalie? Do you know who this is?"

"That's m-my... brother..." Everyone looked at Natalie in shock. "I forgot he had a show in DC tonight..."

"Can you tell us a little about him? If you're alright with that?" Rossi asked.

"Um, y-yeah. His name is Nathaniel Moriarity. He's 22 years old. He's a singer. A front man for a band. So he travels a lot." Natalie's eyes began to water.

Spencer, the person sitting closest to her, put his hand on hers and gave her a sympathetic look. She half-smiled and nodded at him. "Alright, thank you Natalie. He went missing two days ago. The last two victims were found dead three days after they went missing, which means we have today to try and find him. According to the reports, the victims were found in hotels with rooms registered under their own names, but none of them used credit cards," Hotchner explained.

"So basically we have one night to find a room registered to Nathaniel Moriarity. What, we just have to call every hotel ourselves since we can't look up a card?" JJ asked.

"That sounds like the best plan," Morgan said.

"There are hundreds of hotels and motels in DC. It'll take all night!" JJ exclaimed.

"We can split it up, it shouldn't take much effort to make a few calls, guys," Spencer told them. Natalie shot him a grateful look, and he smiled.

The team left the conference room and each took out their respective phone books. They divided the hotels evenly amongst them and began to work. Natalie and Spencer both zoomed through their work, and neither of them ended up finding the right hotel. As the others worked diligently, Natalie began freaking out more and more. Nobody really noticed because she kept somewhat quiet, but Spencer did. He got two cups of coffee, and walked to her desk.

"Natalie?" She looked up at him, tears almost forming in her eyes. "I brought you some coffee." She took it. "Are you okay?"

She shook her head and whispered, "No, Spencer. Not at all. You know, I'm usually a strong person. There are very few things I'm afraid of. But... my brother is the most important person to me. I just don't know what I'd do if he was..." She trailed off and a few tears escaped from her eyes. She set down her coffee and wiped her face.

"Don't worry, Natalie. We'll find him," Spencer reassured her, putting a hand on hers.

"You don't know that Spencer. It's already 4 A.M." Natalie continued to wipe her eyes as more tears slowly fell every few seconds.

"Natalie, we're working very hard. Trust me, we'll find him." Spencer looked into her eyes. "I promise you."

Natalie gazed into Spencer's eyes and then began to sob uncontrollably. Spencer quickly guided her to the restroom and handed her a handful of paper towels. She used all of them, and her crying finally lessened. She sat in the corner of the bathroom, her head in her knees. Spencer sat down next to her.

"It's normal to feel this way. Just let it all out, Natalie." Spencer slowly rubbed her back.

"He was there for everything. He taught me how to ride my bike. He taught me how to drive. He spent everyday with me, which meant him missing shows. And when our mom died in that accident..." Natalie's eyes glazed over again.

"Accident...?" Spencer questioned softly.

A few tears fell out of Natalie's eyes and Spencer handed her another handful of paper towels just as the door swung open. "Oh, here you guys are. We found him!" Prentiss exclaimed. "Let's go!"

"Oh thank God!" Natalie jumped up and wiped her eyes as she ran out of the bathroom.


	12. Chapter 12

_A/N: Figured I'd post this since I already accidentally did in my other story. I suck at life hahaha. So here ya go! Should make a tiny bit more sense now :p_ _Thanks for pointing it out everyone! Cause I never would have caught it lol. :)_

**And I'm not saying that I'm any smarter than you.**

**Sometimes I have motives that are just so stupid,**

**And I play the fool...**

**- The Rocket Summer**

When the team arrived on the scene, it seemed as if it was already too late. There were police cars and an ambulance were already there. The two black SUV's parked, and Natalie ran out of it to find her brother on a stretcher.

"What happened here!?" Hotchner asked an officer.

"Apparently, the man on the stretcher somehow escaped and got into a fight with his captor. He was stabbed three times in the ribs before getting the knife and stabbing the man in the heart twice," the officer explained.

Natalie was crying. "No, no, no. Is he okay? Will he be alright!?" she asked one of the men in the ambulance frantically.

"Ma'am we don't know yet. We're going to do our best to pull him through, though. You can ride with us to the hospital if you'd like," the man told her.

Natalie climbed in and shot Hotchner a look before they closed the doors. He nodded. Ten minutes later they were at the hospital. Her brother went into the OR, so she paced back and forth in the waiting room. After 30 minutes her team showed up. Morgan walked over and hugged her. "Hear anything yet, babe?"

Natalie sighed and wiped her eyes. They were puffy from crying and a lack of sleep. "No." Spencer walked over and hugged her as well, and she received sympathetic looks and apologies from the rest of the team.

Prentiss walked over and held her for a few minutes. "I'm sure it'll be alright, Natalie. Just have faith," she cooed as Natalie hiccupped.

"I know. Thanks, Emily." She looked forward and into her friends eyes with a small smile. Prentiss sat back down as Natalie began to pace again.

Then, a doctor came into the waiting room with a clipboard. "Miss Moriarity?" Natalie shot over to him. "We've finished operating. Your brother's going to pull through."

Natalie bent down for a second and started sobbing again. "Oh, thank God!" she straightened herself out and breathed deeply a few times. "Can I see him?"

"Of course. I'll take you to his room." The doctor led her away, and she glanced back at her team. They all gave her small smiles and waves. The doctor let her into the room. "He's sleeping, but he should be waking up sometime soon. I'll leave you alone." He left the room, and Natalie took a seat in the chair next to her brother's bed. He looked so peaceful. She smiled at him and grabbed his hand softly.

"Nathaniel... God I've never been so happy to see you. I've missed you so much. I'm so glad you're going to be okay. I don't know what I would have done without you." Natalie laughed to herself. "I've got so much to tell you. So many things have happened since I moved here." She watched as her brother's bandaged chest moved up and down slowly. "The job's been perfect. I've gotten a few cuts and bruises, but everything heals over time." Natalie gripped his hand the tiniest bit tighter. "I met a guy. His name's Derek Morgan. He works with me. We've been dating for about four months now. But you know me, ha. It's nothing serious. In fact I think he's been seeing someone else..."

At that moment, Spencer came to the door. He could hear everything Natalie had said about Morgan, but he wasn't sure if he should come in the room yet. He stood still, making sure not to make any noise.

"My other coworkers are great too. My boss, Aaron Hotchner... he's a good guy. He's really strict and all about the rules, but I think he's loosened up a bit since I've been here. My other supervisor... He's nice. He's not really that social, though." Spencer saw her wipe a stray tear from her eye. "JJ didn't like me at first, but... we're pretty good friends now. Emily is the sweetest. She's probably the best girl friend I've ever had. I think you'd really like her, Nathaniel." Spencer wondered what she would say about him, and then wondered if he really wanted to know. He quietly began to walk away just as she started talking again. "And Spencer Reid... I don't really know what to say. I met him before I even started work. I mean, I didn't know it was him at the time, because I just saw him in a café. I remember thinking he was so handsome. When I met him at work, he seemed to dislike me, though. Then I found out it was because he was jealous that I'm smarter than him." Spencer then realized he didn't want to hear anymore, so he walked away.

"We were paired on an assignment together. We had to pretend we were married. When I kissed him on that case... I felt something that I haven't felt in my entire life. My stomach went crazy. But I chose Morgan instead, because... I think it's because I knew that with Spencer... I'd get more attached. And I don't want to be that way with someone, because..." Natalie trailed off, finally realizing her fears. She let go of her brother's hand and quietly wiped a couple of tears away.

"Natalie..." Her brother looked at her. She opened her mouth to speak, but he put his hand up. "You can't be afraid. You weren't raised to be afraid. You're strong. You're probably the strongest person I know. I don't want you to be afraid to get close to someone, just because you're afraid of being hurt when or if you lose them. Things happen. Sometimes they're good and sometimes they're bad, but you have to understand that they happen for a reason..." Natalie began to cry again, and she took her brother's hand. She kissed it.

"You heard all of that?" Natalie questioned.

"Yeah, ha. I was only pretending to sleep." Natalie let out a laugh. "I missed your laugh." She smiled as he drifted back to sleep for real.


	13. Chapter 13

**I just want you for my own,**

**More than you could ever know.**

**Make my wish come true...**

**- Olivia Olsen**

A few hours had gone by, and it was now 10 in the morning on Christmas Eve. Natalie walked into her brother's room. He was awake, watching a UFC fight. "Hey big bro!" Natalie beamed.

"Hey! Where did you go? I thought you'd be here when I woke up," Nathaniel asked her.

"I had some business to take care of." Natalie smiled widely.

"And that business would be...?" He waited.

"Well, I broke things off with Derek. He was a little upset, but he said he thought it'd be for the best too." Nathaniel smiled and nodded. "Anddddd, I also went back to Quantico for a little so I could get your present! You're lucky I didn't send it to London already." Natalie pulled up a large box and set it on his legs.

"Natalie... this is heavy. Please tell me you didn't..." He opened the box to reveal a brand new electric guitar. "You did! Natalie this is expensive! How did you-"

"I make a lot of money at this job, Nate. Don't even worry about it!" Natalie beamed. Her brother gave her a kiss on the cheek and thanked her over and over.

Spencer knocked on the door. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Oh, Spencer! Hey, no. I was just giving my brother his Christmas present a day early. I thought he could use some cheering up." Natalie smiled at her brother.

"So, this is Spencer, huh?" Nathaniel said.

"You've heard of me?" Spencer raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, she told me about all the people she works with. Speaking of... where is this Emily?" Nathaniel wiggled his eyebrows. Spencer and Natalie laughed.

"I'll go get her." Natalie left. Spencer took her seat.

"So... you're in a band, huh?" Spencer said, trying to make a small conversation.

"Yeah, but enough about me. You like my sister, don't you?" Nathaniel said, and Spencer's mouth flew open.

"U-um... I mean, well... yeah. How'd you know?" Spencer stuttered.

"Like I said, she told me all about the people she works with. She told me what happened on that one case." He opened a Jell-O cup.

"But that was months ago. She's with Morgan, and I haven't even mentioned anything of the sort since then," Spencer explained.

"She and Morgan called it quits this morning. And you might not have said anything, but I think you're forgetting how smart Natalie is. It's like she can read minds or something," he pointed out.

Spencer put his hand on his chin. "Right."

"Look, I'm not trying to tell you what to do... but I think you should tell her how you feel again. Do _something_. You never know what might happen. You might even end up getting a good Christmas present this year." Nathaniel winked at him as the girls entered the room.

"Emily Prentiss, meet my brother, Nathaniel Moriarity." Emily shook his hand and blushed slightly as Natalie stood near Spencer.

"Did Emily just blush?" Spencer asked, awestruck. Natalie nodded. "There's something you don't see everyday. Let's leave them to get acquainted."

Spencer and Natalie stood in the hallway silently for a few seconds. "I'm glad you're still here, Spencer. It means a lot to me that you'd stay."

"Anytime, Natalie." She smiled at him. He cleared his throat. "Ahem. I, uh... I got you a present. For Christmas." Spencer pulled a small box out of his pocket. "Before you say it, I know I didn't have to, but... I wanted to, and I saw it and thought of you..." Spencer smiled as she opened the box.

She gasped. "Spencer... this is beautiful." Natalie picked up the thin, white gold necklace. The chain went through a small heart that had one side made up of 3 diamonds and 3 zircons. "One of my birth stones... Zircons. You know, they're said to have magical powers to protect their wearer fr-"

"From evil. I know. Kinda why I got it, ha. Do you like it?" Spencer questioned.

"Of course I do, it's amazing." Natalie turned around as Spencer offered to put it on. She turned back around and took something from her purse. "I made this for you..."

Spencer smiled and took the wrapping off of the square item. It was a hand-painted picture of a windy November day, and the words to Annabelle Lee were written on it in beautiful calligraphy. "What… can you read my mind? This is my favorite poem." Spencer couldn't help it, he leaned forward and kissed her softly.

Natalie returned the kiss, and made it more passionate. They stood in the hallway kissing for just over ten minutes before smiling and walking back into Nathaniel's room.

_A/N: Kinda... somewhat of a filler chapter. I just needed something cute :) haha, and something to add into the kinda drama that is Natalie and Spencer, ha._


	14. Chapter 14

_A/N: Soooooooo not so many review lately. Gonna need about like... seven for another chapter, haha. Evil, once again. But not. Enjoy._

**Let's get reckless, dance with our hands to the beat.**

**Don't let this slip through our fingers.**

**It feels insane, don't you put up a fight.**

**- Hey Monday**

Nathaniel had been released from the hospital, and rejoined his bandmates on tour. He and Prentiss kept in touch daily through calls, texts, and e-mails. Since Christmas Eve, neither Natalie of Spencer had mentioned anything about the kiss. A week had gone by. It was New Year's Eve, and the team had all gotten together at a nearby bar to celebrate. JJ brought Will and Henry, and Kevin was there with Garcia.

Morgan, Emily, and Hotchner were dancing. Yes, Hotch was dancing. Everyone had already had about seven drinks, so they let loose. Rossi was at the bar with a friend of his. "Hey, we're going to go play some darts. Can you guys watch Henry for me?" JJ asked as she, Will, Garcia, and Kevin got up.

"Sure thing, JJ." Natalie took baby Henry into her arms. "Why would she bring her baby to a bar? Haha, oh well. He is so cute. I can't wait to have one of my own."

"Me either. I'm his Godfather, you know," Spencer told her.

"I didn't know. How adorable!" Natalie beamed at him. She handed Henry to Spencer and watched as he cooed over the baby. Spencer acted as though too hard of a touch would harm the baby. She smiled. "You're good with kids. You'd be a good father." Spencer smiled at her.

"Thanks. Ahem, so I was wondering. What happened at the hospital-"

"Spencer... let's not talk about it. Not tonight, anyway. Let's just enjoy ourselves." Natalie half-smiled. Spencer nodded. "I'm going to go get another drink, would you like one?"

"Sure. Gin and Tonic, please." Spencer rocked the baby back and forth lightly as he watched Natalie walk away.

---

"Can I get a Gin and Tonic, and... a Captain and Coke please." The bartender flew to the other end of the bar to make her drinks.

A guy who had obviously had one too many drinks stumbled up to her. "Hey, hot stuff. Wanna come home with me tonight?"

"I'll pass." Natalie turned away from him.

"Come on! I'm a... I'm a nice guy! I'm hot, right? I'm good in bed too, huh?" The guy tried.

"Look, pal. I'm an FBI Agent. I really don't want to have to pull my gun on you. Please get away from me." Natalie turned her back away from him again.

She heard the guy scoff and walk away. She noticed Rossi was a few feet away. He held up his drink to her, and she smiled in return. The bartender came back with her drinks and she retreated to the table where Spencer was still sitting alone with Henry. "So I saw that guy up there. Some random drunk guy trying to pick you up?"

"Uh huh. Took care of it, though." Natalie clapped her hands a couple of times.

"I noticed." Just then, JJ and Will came back.

"Hey guys, thanks so much. I think we're about to head out," Will said.

"Aw, no!" Natalie smiled.

"Yeah, we've got to put Henry to bed. I'll see you guys at work, though." JJ smiled before she and Will left the bar. Then, Natalie's phone rang.

"Oh, excuse me. I need to take this." Spencer waved her off, and she answered the phone. "Hey, dad."

"_Natalie. How is the job going?"_

"Wonderful. Almost lost Nathaniel on Christmas Eve, but I'll tell you about that when I see you," Natalie told her father.

"_Alright. Just checking up on my little girl._ _Have you met Reid?"_

"Yeah, we've actually gotten really close. He's one of my best friends."

"_That's good, he's a good guy. Stick with him, Nat. And hey... watch out for him for me, okay? Keep him safe. I know you can do it. You're stronger than he can be."_

"Alright."

"_I love you, Natalie. I miss you a lot."_

"Love and miss you too, daddy."

Natalie hung up the phone and watched Spencer sip at his drink. She stood behind him and tapped his shoulder. "Sorry about that."

"It's alright," Spencer assured her.

"So what do you think about this whole New Year's Kiss philosophy?" Natalie questioned him.

"I think it's somewhat stupid. I mean, it's said that it's bad luck to go without one when the clock strikes twelve, but I say you make your own luck. I also think it's mainly an excuse for drunk, horny people to get some action," Spencer explained.

Natalie laughed at him as the crowd started counting down. She eyed him as they reached 3. They reached number one, and as they shouted 'Happy New Year', Natalie wrapped her arms around Spencer and pulled him in for a long, hard kiss.


	15. Author's Note

So...

I've gotten about 3 reviews for this story I think.

It used to be so much more.

I'm kind of saddened.

Not updating till I see the love.

Thanks,

-RA.


	16. Chapter 15

**Try as I might, I just can't handle this.**

**I lost myself inside a drunken kiss,**

**And all I wanted was to walk you home...**

**- Mayday Parade**

Natalie sat in the conference room with a coffee and a splitting headache. "Hey, Natalie!" Prentiss said loudly as she sat down next to her friend.

"Shhh! Can you take it down a notch, please?" Natalie asked as Spencer took the seat on the other side of her. He gave her a concerned look.

"Wow. Someone's hungover. How many drinks did you have last night?" Prentiss wondered.

"I don't know... a lot?" Natalie guessed. "I only remember little bits and pieces after JJ left Henry with us." Natalie massaged her temples. Spencer looked away from her, disappointed that she might not remember their kiss.

"Spencer, you okay?" Natalie asked him.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine." Spencer opened the file JJ had just handed him.

"Alright guys, this is our victim." JJ clicked the remote, and a picture of a man who had been gutted appeared on the TV screen.

"Wait... isn't that Governor Sanford?" Morgan asked.

"Yes. Governor Mark Sanford from South Carolina. I'm sure most of you heard that he's just recently suffered a scandal because he disappeared for three months, and when he came back it was found out that he'd been having an affair with a woman in Argentina," JJ informed them.

Hotchner walked in the room. "Sorry I'm late. Thanks for starting, JJ. So he was found like this last night in his office. He stayed unusually late, and when his secretary went in to check on him, she found him like this. His secretary, Mrs. Lynn Baldwin, said he had a usual day, but there was a man that came in to his office around 5 P.M. She said he spoke with an accent, and when she looked at his I.D. it was Argentinean."

"He left in a hurry, but the secretary didn't think anything of it, just thought he was mad," Rossi added.

Hotchner shook his head and began again, "JJ, Prentiss, you'll be going with Rossi down to Columbia, South Carolina to interview the secretary and see what other information you can get. Reid, Natalie, Morgan, you'll be coming with me to Cordoba, Argentina. Go home and get your go bags ready for at least a week's trip. Wheels up in 45."

Everyone quickly got their things, and Hotch's team got on the plane as Rossi's team drove.

Morgan sat looking out the window and listening to music, while Hotchner read over the case. Spencer and Natalie were busy playing a game of Gin. "Spencer... how did I get home last night?"

Spencer furrowed his brow as he adjusted his hand. "You said you lived right by the bar, so I, uh... I helped you walk home."

"Oh... well thank you." Natalie laid down a card.

Spencer picked it up. "You're welcome." He laid down a card as Hotchner glanced up at the two. "So... you really don't remember anything after we were left with Henry?" Spencer tried to cover up the disappointment in his voice. Natalie noticed it.

"Only little bits... why?" She eyed him. Hotchner continued to watch them.

"No reason. Just wondering." Spencer picked up another card and laid his hand down. "Gin." Natalie shook her head and put her cards on the table.

"You can't pull the genius card now. I hope you realize the only reason you beat me is probably because you're from Vegas." Natalie laughed.

"Natalie can I speak with you for a moment?" Hotchner used his head to motion for her to sit next to him. She did. "What's going on with you and Reid?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but I don't know what you're talking about," Natalie informed him.

"You are aware that you kissed him on New Year's Eve?" Hotchner questioned, his tone a little higher pitched.

Natalie paused. "N-no, sir. I, um... I don't remember that."

"Hmm. Well, alright. Just make sure to keep your professional life and your private life separate. And you do know that it's against regulations for team members to become romantically involved, correct?" Hotchner wondered.

"Yes, sir. I remember." Natalie put her head down.

"I let it slide when I found out about you and Morgan because it wasn't anything serious and it ended soon enough... but I won't tolerate it again. Clear?" Hotchner looked her in the eyes.

"Crystal." Natalie smiled at him and got up. She sat across the aisle from Reid and pulled out her iPod.

Spencer looked at her, confused. He then looked back at Hotchner who motioned for Spencer to come talk to him as well. Hotchner had the almost same talk with Spencer that he did with Natalie. Spencer sighed and sat down in the seat he was in before. He glanced at Natalie, suddenly saddened.


	17. Chapter 16

**And if a double-decker bus crashes into us,**

**To die by your side is such a heavenly way to die.**

**And if a ten ton truck kills the both of us...**

**- The Smiths**

The teams each spent a week in their respective areas. Rossi's team didn't get much more information, but Hotch's team had gotten a few leads, and knew they were closing in on the unsub. "Hand me that file, Derek?" Natalie requested.

Morgan handed her the file she'd asked for. The group was sitting at a table in their hotel eating breakfast and looking over different files on the case. "I still have a feeling that this is all leading back to that woman Sanford had an affair with," Morgan voiced.

"But there's no evidence to support that, Morgan," Spencer said.

"What about the fact that this guy is her cousin?" Morgan questioned.

"This is Argentina, Morgan, the families are huge. She says she doesn't even know who the guy is," Hotchner pointed out.

Natalie spoke up. "He might be on to something, Hotch. I mean, the guy was found dead, and his killer was an ex boyfriend of hers. I mean, that's not exactly normal..."

"I see where you're coming from. Morgan, since you brought it up go ahead and see if you can get any new information out of her. Take Reid with you," Hotchner ordered. The two left, and Hotchner and Natalie continued to look over the files. Natalie sighed and rubbed her eyes. "You okay?" Hotchner asked.

"Yeah. Just haven't been getting much sleep lately." Natalie cracked her knuckles.

"Why is that?" he asked, not looking up form the papers.

"I don't know. Just haven't really been tired," Natalie said, although it was really because she'd been having nightmares.

Hotch paused for a second before continuing his work. "Any nightmares or anything?"

Natalie realized she was stupid for trying to hide from a profiler, but still she said, "No."

Hotchner flinched slightly. Natalie knew he could tell she was lying to him. "Let's try that again. Any nightmares?" Hotchner questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes..." Natalie said softly.

"About?"

"Mostly just memories. Nothing having to do with the job," Natalie informed him.

"The accident?" Hotchner finally looked up at her.

"H-how did you...?" Natalie trailed off.

"Your dad told me about it." Natalie looked to her lap. "He talked about you a lot, you know. Not in front of the team, but to me. He told me all about the accident and how he came to know you and your brother..." He took Natalie's hand. "I'm sorry it happened. But you can't let it effect you like this. You've got to move on."

"I know. It's just... it happened five years ago tomorrow. I guess that's why I've just been thinking about it a lot lately. And... it was my fault th-"

"No. Stop thinking that way. Natalie... you were driving, and you didn't die, but your mother did. That doesn't mean it was your fault. It just means that you were meant to live. It means that you have something to do on this planet, Nat," Hotch explained.

"You called me Nat... my dad calls me that." Natalie let out a small laugh.

"I know." Hotch smiled.

"You smiled. I'm totally your favorite team member!" Natalie beamed.

"Just don't tell anyone else." Hotch winked at her, and she laughed.

"Promise." Natalie smiled.

Hotch's phone rang. "Hotchner."

"_Hotch! It's her, and Morgan's been taken. Come quick, please. Hurry!"_

"Reid, Reid calm down. Where are you?" Hotchner asked as Natalie gathered the paperwork.

"_The San Martin Theater. Hurry!"_

"Hotch." Hotchner began to quickly gather the rest of the paperwork. "Hotch, what's going on?" Natalie questioned frantically.

"Morgan and Reid are at the San Martin Theater. Morgan's been taken hostage. Let's go." Hotchner jumped up and quickly walked outside, Natalie following close behind him.


	18. Chapter 17

_A/N: Had ONE, count it, ONE review for the last chapter. You guys love me so much. But I'm updating anyway. And Hopefully update for HYSTG tonight. If not, tomorrow._

**All my friends, and all my lovers are dead.**

**Some from cheap narcotics and other from lead.**

**The filthy rich and the dirt, dirt poor are all the same when they can't take no more.**

**- Mickey Avalon**

Hotchner and Natalie quickly got out of the car and found Spencer. "Thank God. He's still in there. I can hear him shouting every now and then so I know he's still alive. They're torturing him," Spencer informed them.

"You haven't tried going in?" Hotch asked.

"I've tried both doors, both locked. They're steel; I can't kick them in." Spencer ran his fingers through his hair nervously.

Natalie looked around and up. "There! If one of you give me a boost onto the fire escape I can go in through that small window."

"No, Natalie, if any of us are going in, it's not going to be you," Hotch said. She grabbed his arm and made him face her.

"It's the only way in, and I'm the only one who can fit. Let me go." She gave him a stern look and he sighed.

"Fine, come on." Hotchner and Spencer followed her to the fire escape, and Hotchner gave her a boost.

Natalie quickly, quietly and nimbly wove her way up the fire escape. She heard a crash come from the room, and the window broke out, so she placed herself against the side of the building. She heard Morgan shout, but didn't see any one come out of the window, so she slowly moved forward, taking her gun out. She held it straight in front of her as she came in front of the window.

Whatever or whoever had busted the window out wasn't there anymore. She slowly moved through the room and found a hallway. She noticed light coming out of another room at the end of the hallway and heard talking, so she slowly walked forward. When she heard a gunshot, she was triggered to rush in.

"FBI! Freeze!" Natalie shouted. There was a man and a woman in the room. The woman stood in front of Morgan with a gun pointing at him. The gun shot was from, what looked like, her shooting the man. He was lying on the floor with a bullet wound in his chest.

"Natalie..." Morgan gasped. She could tell he was struggling to stay conscious.

"I'm here, Derek. I'm here..." Natalie said softly, her accent soothing him slightly.

"Shut up, fool!" The woman shouted. She hit him across the face and he moaned, all the while never pulling the gun down.

"Don't you dare hit him anymore!" Natalie ran to Morgan and wiped the tears from his eyes. She'd never seen him like this before.

"Get away from him!" The woman shouted. Natalie faced her and pointed the gun at her face.

"Drop the gun." Natalie noticed that the woman's eyes were wide.

"Hahahaha. You act like a few words can make a difference," the woman spat.

"You've already killed one man and had two others killed for you. You've got an FBI agent standing right here and more waiting for you outside. You're going to jail no matter what you do, so is killing Agent Morgan really necessary?" Natalie tried.

"None of those kills were necessary. Why would another one even phase me?" She laughed again.

"Why would another one even matter?" The woman looked at Natalie, still not lowering her gun. "Look, you have every reason to shoot him. He's misogynistic. He's a ladies man. He cares about himself before everyone else. The only time he helps anyone else is if it'll help him in some way. He's a two-timer, a snake." She glanced at Morgan, and his mouth was slightly open. She winced a little to let him know she was putting on a front. "Go ahead. Honestly, it would probably help the team."

"It would be my pleasure." The woman grins and straightens out her arm. She stares Morgan in the face and goes to pull the trigger.

Hotchner and Reid had called for backup, and they waited outside with the officers now surrounding the place. They heard the gun shot just before the SWAT team rammed the doors open. Hotchner and Spencer quickly ran up the stairs and to the end of the hallway to find Natalie on the ground, holding Morgan.

Hotchner ran towards them. "Morgan, thank God you're okay. Get the coroners in here." He walked back to talk with Spencer.

"N-Natalie... those things you said..." Morgan said slowly.

"Shhh, Derek, we'll talk about this later." Natalie rubbed his back gently.

Spencer watched the two jealously, but he paid attention to Hotch, to make sure he didn't get another talking to. Hotchner asked him a question, but had to repeat it. "I'm sorry, sir. That was taken care of by Morgan yesterday." Hotchner nodded and walked away to talk to the coroners who were now in the room.

Natalie helped Morgan up. "Spencer can you get him down to the medics so I can talk to Hotch?" Natalie asked him. He nodded and then helped his friend downstairs.


	19. Chapter 18

_A/N: Still SEVERELY lacking in reviews. Very discouraging, and makes me not want to write anymore :( Awwww. But seriously, step it up people! Where's the love? I miss you, haha. I'm ridiculous. Anyway, this one's a tiny bit shorter. Mostly just a filler. Enjoy, though._

**Tell me what your best friend knows that I don't know.**

**Tell me why you talk me down wherever you go.**

**You're a saint, you're a queen, and I'm just another boy without a crown...**

**- All Time Low**

Natalie looked out the window as the plane flew steady in the sky. She had tried to sleep, but she couldn't. Morgan came and sat next to her. "Natalie... can we talk about what happened?" Natalie slowly looked at him and nodded. "Those things you said..."

"Derek, I was just trying to provoke her," Natalie told him.

"I don't care why you said them." Natalie cocked her head a little. "I just... I just wanted to let you know that half of it was true. The half having to do with the way I treat women." Natalie still looked at him, waiting for him to go on. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for the way I treated you. I don't know why I always flaked on you, and I don't know why I thought some other woman would satisfy me over you..." Natalie was unsure of what to say. "I'm sorry."

Natalie nodded. "It's alright." She patted his knee for a second, then returned to looking out of the window.

After a few minutes, Morgan continued. "Okay... I kind of do care... why did you say those things?" He questioned with no expression.

"Like I said, I was just trying to provoke her. Get her to try something so I'd have a reason to shoot her," Natalie explained.

"So you'd have a reason to shoot her? So you knew you were going to the whole time?" Morgan asked, still no expression on his face.

Natalie shrugged. "Yeah. I wasn't going to let her kill you."

Morgan smiled. "Aw, you care about me!"

Natalie laughed. "Yeah, well... just because you suck with girls doesn't mean I don't still care about you as a teammate and a friend, Derek."

He smiled and put an arm around her shoulder, giving her a small hug. Then he took a seat in the back of the plane. Natalie looked around, Spencer was napping and Hotchner was looking back at her. He half-smiled and gave her a nod of approval. Then, her cell phone rang.

"Hey, dad," she said quietly as she answered.

"_Hello, Natalie. I heard about the case."_

"Oh, yeah?"

"_Yeah... Aaron called me. He says you two are somewhat close?"_

"I guess. He said I'm his favorite, ha. Kind of weird. But I'm glad you guys are talking again. Gotta have someone to keep you up to date, huh?"

"_Exactly. Listen... I'm really proud of you."_

"For what?"

"_Well, for doing what you had to do to keep your teammate from being further harmed or killed."_

"Oh. Well thank you. I actually just thought about what you'd do, ha..."

"_That's really what any good agent would do, so be proud of yourself. I just wanted to call and make sure you know those things."_

"Oh, um... alright. Well thank you."

"_I'll talk to you later, sweetie."_

"Wait, dad?"

"_Yes?"_

"When are you coming to visit me? I miss you..."

"_...I'll be there soon, honey. I promise."_

"That doesn't exactly give me an answer."

Her dad sighed on the other end. _"Valentine's Day?"_

Natalie smiled. "That would be perfect."

"_Alright. I'll make all the plans. I'll pick you up at your apartment that night at 7."_

"Alright. That sounds great."

"_I love you."_ Natalie hung up the phone as Hotchner sat down by her.

"Was that your father?" She nodded. "How is he? I didn't get to talk with him for too long when I called him this afternoon."

"Good. He's finally coming to visit me on Valentine's Day. It's the first time I'm going to see him in almost two years," Natalie gushed.

Hotchner smiled. "I can imagine your excitement."

-----

_Show me you like it! Hahaha. - RA._


	20. Chapter 19

_A/N: **I AM SO UPSET WITH YOU GUYS! **Why do you insist on not reviewing? That's why I haven't been updating lately. I used to update everyday, and sometimes twice a day, but now I'm discouraged :( Anyway, only posting this after TWO reviews because there's a CM episode on tonight. So enjoy._

**I know that it's much too late**

**To ask you on a date,**

**I know that it's no use...**

**- MXPX**

The next couple of weeks flew by quickly. The team had had a few cases, but none of them were too major. On one case, though, Emily got seriously hurt, and she's still in the hospital. Morgan had recovered nicely, though. It was a week and a half before Valentine's Day, and the team was swamped with paperwork. Natalie and Spencer both flew through their work, and offered to get the team lunch.

They were walking down the street to the Chinese place two blocks away. Tired of walking in silence, Spencer opened his mouth. "I can't, Spencer." Natalie said before he could say a word.

"You don't even know what I was going to say," Spencer laughed.

"Come on, Spencer... you've been secretly, or what you think is secretly, watching me whenever you think no one sees you. You've almost talked to me in the break room four times this week, but before you've gotten the courage to actually talk, I've walked away. You keep checking your calendar... you were going to ask me if I'm interested in doing something for Valentine's. And I can't." Natalie said all of this without looking at him.

"Okay. Wow, is your brother right? Can you read minds? Never mind, then." Spencer shoved his hands in his pockets.

"It's not because I don't want to... I just can't." This time she looked over at him. He returned the look, furrowing his brow. "My dad's coming in town. I haven't seen him in almost two years, and we're supposed to have dinner."

"Oh." He looked down. "So does that mean you would if you didn't have plans? Because y-you said that it's not because you don't want to."

"I... would if it wasn't against the rules. Yeah, I guess." Natalie shrugged.

"What happened to not liking me in that way?" Spencer smiled.

"I never said I did. Just said I guess that I would go out with you." Natalie smirked.

Spencer's phone rang. "Dr. Reid. Oh, hi! Yeah, I'd love to. 6:30? Sounds great. Bye." Natalie pretended not to be interested in his conversation. "That was a friend of mine. He's coming in town in a little bit, and he asked me to go to dinner."

"Oh, well that's nice. I wasn't aware you had friends outside of work," Natalie joked. Spencer laughed lightly.

They reached the Chinese place and ordered, then sat down to wait on their food. "You know, when I was a little girl my mother used to take my brother and I to this little Chinese restaurant a few blocks away from our flat. We always went, once a week. I had so much fun there. My favorite day was when she taught us how to use chopsticks. My brother, haha, he tried and tried until he just gave up. He still doesn't know how to use them," Natalie told him.

"Well that makes two of us," Spencer informed her.

"Really? Hmm. No stories from your childhood to share?" Natalie questioned.

"Um... my childhood wasn't exactly the happiest." Spencer let out a small laugh.

"Oh... well you don't have to say anymore if you don't want." Natalie glanced up at him.

"We'll save it for later, maybe." Spencer gave her a shy smile and fidgeted a little.

Natalie smiled when she saw how insecure Spencer had become. "Okay. So tell me something else, then."

Spencer was confused. "Like what?"

"Whatever you want." Natalie folded her hands in her lap and smiled.

"There's not really much to tell. I don't have much of a life outside of work, and you can find almost everything about me out by googleing me." Spencer looked her in the eye.

"If you want me to be honest... I googled you that first day I met you." Natalie laughed at herself.

"Did you really?" Spencer asked, surprised.

"Yeah! I was interested in you. I wanted to know what I was up against." Both of them laughed.

"Okay, since we're being honest, I did the same thing for you." Natalie smiled.

"I know you did. I figured you wanted to know what you were up against as well. Plus, I looked at your computer screen. You were so enthralled by it that you didn't even notice when I came up behind you." Natalie laughed, causing Spencer to laugh as well.

"That's kind of embarrassing, ha." Natalie shook her head. "Oh, I think our food's ready," Spencer finished. They got up and each grabbed a bag of food. Spencer paid, and they started their walk back to the Bureau.

"I'm really glad that we're friends now, Spencer," Natalie said as she smiled at him.

"Me too." Spencer smiled at her in return.


	21. Chapter 20

_A/N: Thank you guys so much for the (about) 9 or 10 reviews I got after the last chapter. I wish I didn't have to work so hard for them, haha, but thank you so much! Especially I Philosoraptor, whose review made me smile the most :D And don't hate me for using Selena Gomez lyrics for this one, haha. My little sister was listening to her, and they seemed somewhat appropriate. Also another somewhat filler. And this story's over soon :/  
_

**When you're falling down, the world starts spinning out.**

**When you're falling down, the worlds not all about you.**

**When you're falling down, you know I'll be around...**

**- Selena Gomez**

A week later, on Valentine's Day, the team was sent out into the woods to profile a killer that had killed and dumped five single black males. The bodies were dismembered, so the team (sans Emily) was split up to search for the remaining parts of the newest body. Hotchner, JJ, and Morgan were sent one way, and Spencer, Rossi, and Natalie were sent the other way.

"This guy's sick," Natalie said, covering her nose since the smell had engulfed them.

"Yeah, well... a lot of people are these days," Rossi told her.

"Did you guys hear that?" Spencer asked, hearing leaves crackling in the distance.

"Yeah..." Natalie said, stopping to look around.

"Let's just move forward, guys." Rossi walked in front of them.

The trio walked forward more, looking around for body parts. "Hey, I think I see a hand over there..." Spencer walked to the side as they stood watching. He crept forward, toward the hand that he saw lying on the ground partially behind a tree. When he went to pick it up, a man whipped out from behind the tree and held a gun to his head.

"Neither of you move, or he dies," The man said, holding Spencer tightly.

"Alright, alright. Easy... easy," Rossi told the man.

"Put your weapons down," the man ordered. Rossi and Natalie slowly put their guns on the ground and held their hands up. The man quickly tied Spencer's hands and feet. "You two, get over here so I can tie you up. And don't try anything funny." Rossi and Natalie moved toward him slowly, and he used a rope to tie them up. He paced in front of them, talking softly to himself. "Alright, you guys don't try anything. I'm going to go round up your friends."

The three of them sat tied together. Then, Natalie remembered that he didn't check their pockets. She began to try to dig in her right pocket, managing to touch Spencer's butt and leg. "Hey! Wh-what are you doing?"

"Easy, Spencer I'm not trying to get frisky or anything. I just remembered that I have a lighter in my pocket. I can use it to burn my ropes and untie you guys," Natalie explained.

"Why do you have a lighter? You don't smoke," Rossi pointed out.

Natalie finally got the lighter, and burned her ropes. "I might enjoy a nice Clove every now and then. Don't judge me." Natalie smiled as she untied her feet and stood up. She suddenly felt something hit her in the back of the head. She fell to the ground, and heard Rossi and Spencer yell her name.

"Shut up! I knew one of you would try something." The man sat her up, and got in her face. He tied her hands again. "You think this is a joke?" The man walks over to Spencer and hits him with the butt of his gun.

"Stop it!" Natalie shouted.

"Natalie." Rossi shot her a look telling her to be quiet.

"No, no, no, no, no. Keep screaming, darling. Save your friend," the man said as he hit Spencer again, causing Natalie to start whimpering. She was distracting him so she could grab the lighter. She quietly burned her ropes again, but held them to make it seem as though she was still tied. He hit Spencer again. Natalie flinched and sniffed.

"Why aren't you hitting me? Why take it out on the kid?" Rossi asked him, trying to pull his attention away from Natalie, after noticing what she'd done.

"Are you kidding? Look at him! He's scrawny, small. It wouldn't affect you as much if I hit you," the man explained.

"So you go for the weakest of the pack to make yourself seem stronger," Rossi stated.

The man walked closer to him, turning his back on Natalie. She used her leg to trip him, and grabbed his gun. "You stay on the ground, or I'll shoot you." She glanced at Spencer, who had dried tears and blood all over his face. The man made a dash for the gun Rossi had dropped, and Natalie took her shot. The rest of the team arrived and crowded over the man. Natalie untied Rossi and Spencer.

"N-Natalie. Thank you..." Spencer hugged her tightly.

"Shhh. It's okay, Spencer. You're safe now..." Natalie rubbed his back. She felt a couple of tears escape her eyes.


	22. Chapter 21

**And the bright lights turn to night,**

**Until the dawn it brings another day to**

**Sing about the magic that was you and me...**

**- Jason Mraz**

"Natalie!" Natalie's father hugged her as she entered the restaurant.

"Hey dad!" She looked past him and noticed Spencer sitting at the table. "Spencer?"

"Natalie?" Spencer asked, surprised.

"I hope you don't mind that I brought him along. I wanted to catch up with him as well."

Natalie smiled politely and sat down. "Of course not. This was the friend that called you for dinner?" She questioned Spencer.

"That's your dad?" Spencer questioned, still surprised.

"Yes. It's me, Jason Gideon, and I'm Spencer's friend from out of town, and I'm Natalie and Nathaniel's father. Anyway, Reid... what happened?" Gideon questioned, referring to Spencer's cuts and bruises.

Reid let out a small laugh. "Um, Natalie, Rossi, and I were tied up in the woods and the Unsub just hit me a few times with his gun." Spencer half-smiled. "Natalie got herself untied and saved us." He smiled at her.

"That's my girl," Gideon said.

"No, I was just doing my job. Keeping my boys safe." Natalie smiled. "Just like I was told to."

Gideon nodded. "So, how did no one at the Bureau know you're Gideon's daughter?" Spencer asked, _still_ shocked.

"Well, Hotchner knew. They recently started talking again, and that's how I got the job. And, of course, Garcia. You know, she saw my information when I started working here so she could put it into the computer," Natalie told him. "And it's probably because he's not my biological father. He adopted my brother and me." Natalie smiled and put her hand on Gideon's.

"Best decision of my life." Gideon smiled as well.

"See, when my mother died in the accident, Nathaniel and I got adopted by, and I don't know if you'll remember her, but we got adopted by dad's close friend Sara. When she died, Jason couldn't just let us go without parents. So he met us when he left the BAU, and the rest is history," Natalie explained to Spencer.

Spencer made a silent 'oh' and smiled. They ordered dinner and chatted away, catching up and filling each other in on their lives. Natalie loved how Spencer interacted with Gideon. "Oh! Dad, I forgot, I got a new phone number. Let me give it to you..." Natalie took a pen out of her purse and grabbed a napkin off of the table. She held it up and acted like she was going to write, but the pen went right through the napkin. She then pulled it out, and there was no hole in the napkin. When she flipped the napkin over her number was written on it. "Voila!"

Gideon and Spencer clapped as she handed the napkin to her dad. "I didn't know you can do magic." Spencer grinned.

"Oh yeah! I've been teaching myself tricks since I was a kid," Natalie informed him.

"Me too..." Spencer gazed at her. Natalie was truly the girl of his dreams, in real life. Gideon picked up on his feelings for her right away, and Natalie's too, and he could tell she was hiding hers from Spencer.

Gideon looked at his watch. "It's getting late. I should probably get going. I've got an early flight in the morning," he said, faking it so that they could be alone together.

"Aw, no, dad. Stay a little longer!" Natalie pleaded.

"I wish I could. How about we get coffee tomorrow morning before my flight?" Gideon said, and Natalie nodded as he handed her some money for his dinner. "Reid, nice to see you again. Watch my daughter, huh?" Gideon smiled.

"Of course, sir." Spencer smiled as he left. "You have one great dad, you know that?"

"Yeah, I know. He's got a tough exterior, but he's just a big softy." Natalie smiled. Spencer did the same. "So, it seems you got me on that date after all."

"Wh-uh... this is a date?" Spencer raised his eyebrows, suddenly nervous.

"If you still want it to be." Natalie winked. They finished dinner and ordered desert, then Spencer offered to walk her home. "Thanks for walking with me. I hate walking alone at night."

"I can imagine. So you never drive? Like, ever?" Spencer asked.

"Not since that accident, but I don't want to explain tonight. It's too nice of a nice for that," Natalie told him.

Spencer nodded. "That's fine. Good thing you live almost right in the middle of everything in the city, then. Easy to walk everywhere."

"Exactly." Natalie put her arms by her side and slowly let her hand find Spencer's. He looked up at her, surprised and smiled as his whole body grew warmer from her touch.

They walked the rest of the way in silence, just enjoying their time together. When they finally reached her apartment building, and Spencer walked up with her, and they stood awkwardly in front of her door. Natalie was fidgeting with her keys, and Spencer was watching her, nervously trying to figure out what he was going to do.

"So, um... g-goodnight?" Spencer asked more than said.

"Do you... do you want to come in?" Natalie questioned, looking up at him.

"Well... well, yeah. Alright." Natalie smiled and Spencer followed her inside.

_A/N: Hmm. This story's almost done. But I've already decided that there will be a sequel! Yay :)_


	23. Chapter 22

_A/N: This chapter has Mature and graphic content! Beware! Hehe :) Guess you all know what that means, huh? Oh, and next chapter is the last one!  
_

---

**This world falls on me.**

**In this world there's real and make believe.**

**This seems real to me...**

**- 3 Doors Down**

"Would you like anything to drink?" Natalie offered. Spencer shook his head, too busy looking around at her walls to do anything. They were covered in paintings and drawings all done by Natalie herself. "Eh, they're all old," she mentioned when she noticed that he was staring. "I haven't done a new piece in almost a year."

"Why? These are amazing," Spencer told her.

"I guess I just haven't been that inspired." Natalie stood in front of him.

"Well maybe soon you'll find something to inspire you..." Spencer took a couple of steps towards her, leaving them a foot of space in between them and surprising himself.

"Maybe..." Natalie closed the space between them and placed a soft kiss on his lips. Spencer slowly put his left hand on her face, and his right one on her hip. "You're shaking," Natalie pointed out.

"Y-yeah... I'm kind of nervous," Spencer admitted, letting his hands move slowly to her shoulders.

"Why?" Natalie asked, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"I, um, Well, I guess because this is real..." Natalie looked at him, confused. "Well, the first time we kissed was just for a case, then you turned me down. The second time was just one small kiss on Christmas Eve, and we never talked about it. You didn't remember that you kissed me on New Year's, but now... now it's real. We're both standing here, seemingly feeling the same way about each other..."

"I do remember kissing you on New Year's, Spencer. I just... I just didn't want anyone to know. I didn't want you or I to get in trouble, and I didn't want to believe that I had such strong feelings for you. After that kiss I just... I couldn't ignore it anymore," Natalie explained.

Spencer couldn't believe his ears. "Yeah... But..."

Natalie took her jacket off and then pushed his off. "Let's stop all this talking for now."

Spencer swallowed hard as Natalie kissed him again, this time a little deeper. He put a hand on the back of her head, one on her back, and pulled her closer to him. He got a small sense of déjà vu when he felt her tongue lick his bottom lip. He opened his mouth and tangled his tongue with hers as her hands went for the buttons on his shirt. He pulled his arms away from her to finish removing his shirt, and Natalie took her own off. They moved to the couch, and Spencer touched her entire body softly. He loved feeling her shiver as he did this, and he smiled into their kisses. Natalie pulled him close and giggled softly into his ear, making him shake even more.

Natalie slowly unbuckled his belt and whipped it out of the loops. Spencer looked down, astonished. Natalie shrugged. "I've kind of watched a few... movies... to help me out..." Natalie giggled. She set her hand on his lap and felt that he was already rock hard.

Spencer moved closer to her to whispered in her ear, "Me too, actually." He smiled and undid the button and zipper on her pants. Natalie quickly pushed him away from her and got up. She slowly strutted a few steps, looked at him, winked, and walked down the hallway to her room. Spencer jumped off the couch and quickly walked to her room where she was waiting on the bed, her pants removed. Spencer stared at her, taking in her extreme beauty before quickly taking his own pants off and crawling onto the bed. He stopped in front of her, and they both sat on their knees, grabbing at each other.

Spencer pushed her down so that he was on top of her, and grabbed her breast as he kissed her neck. Natalie moaned softly, caressing his back. She flipped him over so that she was straddling his waist, and took her bra off. Spencer swallowed hard again as she bent down to breathe in his ear and suck on his neck. He shimmied off his boxers, and she smirked. Natalie took off her underwear as well, and Spencer flipped her over again.

She kept one of her hands on the back of his neck while they continued to kiss, and her other hand traveled down his body. She slipped her hands around the thing she'd been wanting most and smiled. "You're um... you're big aren't you?" she asked, surprised and slightly laughing.

"Um, I thought girls liked that...? Why are you laughing?" Spencer asked, now becoming insecure.

"No, no! We do! I'm just surprised, ha. I'm sorry, just forget I said anything. I'm just a little nervous because this is my first time..." Spencer looked at her, wide eyed. She shook her head, "No, Derek and I never had sex. I've, I've never..."

"Good. Then we can share this together..." Spencer kissed her softly, and then more passionately. He looked down and slowly slipped inside of her, causing her to wince, but she held him closer to tell him to keep going. He slowly and carefully moved in and out of her.

Each time Natalie could feel the pleasure growing inside of her. She'd always heard that you normally don't feel anything your first time, but she was guessing it was because of his size. She let out soft moans, letting Spencer know he was doing a good job. After a few minutes she got brave and began to dig her fingernails into his back, making sure not to hurt him. Spencer also moaned with pleasure. He felt himself coming close to finishing, and when he did he quickly pulled out and caught it in his hand. He then laid on his back and wrapped his other arm around Natalie. "That was amazing..." he breathed. Natalie nodded and rolled over to place a kiss on his cheek. She then got him a towel to wipe his hands with.

She laid back down and fell asleep in the arms of the man she was slowly falling for.

_A/N: I just wanna say myself that I think this chapter is particularly cute! Haha. Likw I said, next chapter will be the last one! But then the sequelllllll._


	24. Chapter 23 FINALE

_A/N: Alright, final chapter. Whoopeeeee! Sucks I didn't have more reviews towards the end there, but I'd love at least 10 before I post the sequel. Sorry to be a b*tch about it, but I seriously get discouraged. If you wish to say something to me about it, message me, don't post it in a review for everyone to see. It makes both of us look bad. Thanks._ _Enjoy the final chapter!!_

**I want to stand with you on a mountain.**

**I want to bathe with you in the sea.**

**I want to lay like this forever...**

**- Savage Garden**

The next few months flew by. Emily got out of the hospital, and the team was swamped with case after case. Spencer and Natalie weren't in a relationship, but every free moment away from work was spent together. They were very good at hiding it from their coworkers, although everyone wondered why the two always seemed to be so happy. When Memorial Day rolled around the team was given a weekend's vacation, and Spencer and Natalie decided to get away for the weekend.

"I'm so glad my brother and I splurged for this place. You're going to love the cabin, Spencer. The Alps are absolutely beautiful this time of year." Natalie smiled widely at him as they got off the plane.

"Natalie, I love anywhere that I get to be alone with you," Spencer told her. She smiled and gave him a kiss before they got in a cab to head to her cabin.

When they reached the cabin Spencer immediately started a fire, and Natalie went into the kitchen to make them some hot chocolate. When she finished she walked into the living room to find Spencer sitting on the end of the couch, flipping through a book of stories and poems by Edgar Allen Poe. She smiled and sat next to him. Spencer accepted the extra cup of cocoa she'd made and set the book down. He put an arm around her, and she sighed. "This is perfect." Spencer nodded in agreement. "So since we only have the weekend I was thinking that we could go onto the mountain tomorrow..."

"That's fine with me. I can't promise you that I'll be on my feet for long, though. Skiing and snowboarding aren't really my things, as you could probably guess," Spencer laughed.

"I had a little something else planned." Natalie sipped her hot chocolate, and Spencer looked at her with an 'Oh?' look on his face. "You'll see!" Natalie beamed and sipped her cocoa again.

"Ohhh, okay. Fine, fine. Well then I've got a little something planned for tonight." Spencer grinned.

"Oh? And what might that be?" Natalie asked flirtatiously.

Spencer set his cup down and stood up. He slowly started unbuttoning his shirt, and Natalie laughed. He threw it at her, and she slowly pulled it down to see him taking his pants off as well. She stood up and went to embrace him, but he pulled away. Natalie raised an eyebrow as he tugged on her sleeve. Spencer then started slowly walking backward across the room, toward the stairs.

"Oh, I see what's going on here..." Natalie then slowly started taking her own clothes off, and when she'd gotten to where she was only in her bra and underwear, she lunged at him. Spencer laughed and ran away from her, up the stairs. Natalie chased him into the bedroom and tackled him onto the bed. "Spencer Reid! When did you get so playful?" Natalie giggled.

"Oh, baby, you have _no_ idea just how playful I can be!" Spencer flipped her over and got on top of her, she laughed as he nibbled at her neck and touched her sides.

"Stop messing around and just get on with it already!" Natalie laugh out. Spencer sat halfway up and smirked.

"Someone's ready..." He bent down and kissed her right before starting what they both wanted.

---

The next morning Spencer and Natalie got dressed and headed out onto the mountain. They hiked up about a mile, and Natalie stopped. Spencer looked back at her. "Why'd you stop?"

"Because I thought this was a good spot to rest for now. And I want to talk to you about something." Natalie motioned for him to come closer to her.

"Okay, talk away." Spencer wrapped his arms around her and took in the amazing view from where they were standing.

"Well... it's been a few months since we started... this, and I just kind of wanted to talk to you about what exactly this is," Natalie explained.

Spencer looked down at her in confusion. "Well... I figured we were just being kind of casual. I mean, your big thing is that you don't like relationships. We've gone over why. I'm okay with it as long as I get to be with you," he told her, smiling.

Natalie took in a deep breath. "Yeah, I know. But see... I've just been kind of afraid. Like... I dated the same guy from the time I was 13 until I was 17, and he ended up cheating on me with my ex best friend and then leaving me for her when I finally found out. Then when I was eighteen I dated a guy for a few months, and he ended up leaving me for someone else too. Then you know, my birth mother died and left me alone as a 16 year old girl. Then just as Sara and I got close, she... I've just been scared that if we started dating I'd get attached then you would leave..." She looked up at Spencer, somewhat sad.

"Natalie... I've never met another girl like you. I really, honestly think that you're the best thing that's ever happened to me. I could never leave you for someone else. No one else could possibly be better than you." Spencer stared into her eyes as they began to look glossy.

"Okay... well then I have something to say." She paused, and Spencer looked at her, telling her to continue. She took in a couple deep breaths and sighed. "Spencer Reid... I want to be in a real relationship with you. I'm in love with you."

Spencer smiled widely at hearing that for the first time. "Good... cause I'm _so_ in love with you." He bent down and they kissed passionately for what seemed like hours on end.

_A/N: Ahhh, story's done! Anyway, like I said, there will definitely be a sequel. So look out for that soon! Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. And continue reading my other stories as well :) Starting a new one soon, maybe. We'll see, ha.  
_


	25. Author's Note Before Sequel!

Author's note before the sequel!

Sooooo, I had 4 chapters written up already, but then MY EFFIN HARD DRIVE CRASHED!

So I spent an hour tonight watching a Criminal Minds re-run while writing a new first chapter to the sequel!

And it will be up in a short amount of time! So get exciteddddd, cause I'll kill ya if you don't! Just kidding, of course!

Just thought you should know how much effort I put into making some of you guys happy :p

Anyway, sequel up in a few!

Love, RA.


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